Bayern Munich II march to another victory in 3.Liga

Bayern Munich II grabbed another huge win on Sunday as they move toward a potential 3.Liga championship. This time, the result was a 3-2 win against Waldhof Mannheim. Leading the charge was 18 year old Malik Tillman with two goals and Chris Richards with one.

Tillman was the top player for Martin Demichelis’s U19 team this season. He was the A-Junioren Bundesliga Süd/Südwest’s top scorer with 13 goals (Oliver Batista-Meier was second with 12 goals), leading Bayern to a first place finish before the season was ended due to COVID-19.

Mannheim struck first in this one with Gianluca Korte unleashing a rocket from the top of the Bayern penalty box that left Ron-Thorben Hoffmann no chance at a save. However, Bayern struck back quickly, and they struck back with force.

Photo by Uwe Anspach/picture alliance via Getty Images

Tillman ran down a Mannehim throw-in back to their own goalkeeper and blocked the clearance, and the ball deflected back into the goal to give Tillman his first goal in the 3.Liga. Then, three minutes later, Tillman found the back of the net again, finishing a big cross from Paul Will.

Bayern II made it 3-1 before the halftime break when Chris Richards headed home a corner from Maximilian Welzmüller.

The second half featured a lot of heroic saves from Hoffmann and a deflected goal from Mannheim’s Florian Flick. However, in the end, Bayern II held on to secure the win and take all three points from this one.

Sebastian Hoeneß had to do without eight key players in this one due to injuries (Leon Dajaku, Fiete Arp, Lukas Mai) and first team responsibilities (Otschi Wriedt, Joshua Zirkzee, Sarpreet Singh, Oliver Batista-Meier, and Chris Früchtl).

Photo by Uwe Anspach/picture alliance via Getty Images

See the full match highlights here.

Bayern XI: Hoffmann - Stanisic (73. Waidner), Feldhahn, Richards, Will (78. Köhn) - Stiller, Zaiser (62. Musiala), Welzmüller, Kern (62. Kühn) - Jeong, Tillman (73. Booth)

The goal at the beginning of the season for Bayern II was to avoid relegation back into the Regionalliga Bayern. With seven matches to go, the young Bavarians are seventeen points clear of the relegation zone.

On the flip side, Bayern II now have the 3.Liga title in their sights. The win moves Bayern II into second place on 54 points, tied with Eintracht Braunschweig but ahead of them thanks to goal differential. They are one point behind leaders Duisburg.

On Wednesday, Bayern II will host Meppen at the Grünwalder Stadion. In the reverse fixture, Bayern II blew a 3-1 lead, conceding three goals after Zirzkee was sent off in the 80th minute. A win will move Bayern II ever closer to securing their spot in the 3.Liga for another season.